From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 20:04:34 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: [NOISE] What is "laser material"?
Message-ID: <ada5ab6d290210044b66@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 4:05 AM 4/26/96, Bill Frantz wrote:

>>   Moreover, a laser shot costs $3,000, compared to several
>>   million dollars for a missile. Army officials envision the
>>   Nautilus would be beamed from a truck capable of firing 50
>>   shots before requiring more laser material.
>
>Does anyone have any idea what "more laser material" means?
>

Sure, most high-power lasers like this are chemical lasers, consuming
reactive materials.

(This is not the same as "gas lasers," a la the early CO2 lasers. And of
course ruby and Nd-YAG lasers are not what is meant here, either.)

P.S. I don't place much faith in laser weaponry. Some obvious
countermeasures are: spin the projectile to minimize heating of any one
spot, determine the wavelength of the planned laser and coat the projectile
with a suitably reflective coating, apply ablative layers that can burn off
without harm, etc. Such countermeasures are of course well-known to the
laser builders, but they still make the game much tougher. All a matter of
attack and counter-attack, and the costs of each. Like castles and siege
engines. Or like crypto.

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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